The geography of inequality – building society begins in the classroom

Published: 12 November 2025

Reading time: 4 minutes

Since the late 1990s, the gap in school performance between urban and rural areas has widened – with negative consequences for young people's future prospects in rural communities. What drives this development remains unclear. For the first time, researchers are now investigating how students are influenced by their classmates over time, from the start of school to adulthood, to see whether so-called peer effects might be part of the explanation.

The education gap between urban and rural areas has grown significantly over the past decades. Students in sparsely populated areas generally perform worse in school than their peers in cities. The Swedish government’s Long-Term Inquiry from 2019, which analyzed the long-term challenges of the Swedish economy, identified urban-rural disparities as a major injustice.
Yet we still know surprisingly little about the causes behind these differences. In a Forte-funded research project, Erik Liss, postdoctoral researcher at Linköping University, together with colleagues, is investigating how so-called peer effects — that is, how students are influenced by their classmates — have changed over time, and whether these effects can help explain the gap.
– We’ve long had access to unique register data in Sweden, but only now do we have the ability to follow students at the classroom level. This opens up entirely new possibilities for understanding how children influence one another, he says.

When children from non-academic backgrounds attend a class with academically experienced peers, there is a chance that their motivation and study skills will be positively influenced.

Erik Liss

Postdoctoral researcher at Linköping University

Peer effects can both strengthen and weaken

Concerns about Sweden drifting apart and the uncertain future facing children form the foundation of the project. The researchers hope their findings will contribute to a more detailed understanding of the factors that influence inequality in education.

– There are mainly two major changes we’ve seen in student composition since the 1990s: first, families with a high level of education tend to move to metropolitan areas before having children. Second, the effects of school choice – today, it’s no longer just geography that determines which school a child attends, but also the parents’ ability to choose. This can reinforce segregation, even within the same municipality, says Erik.

Peer effects are not just theoretical – they are clearly reflected in children’s performance. Ambitious students can inspire and engage their classmates, thereby contributing to improved academic results. Peer effects can thus both strengthen and weaken a group’s outcomes, depending on which norms and behaviors dominate. Positive effects can even extend into adulthood – influencing future employment opportunities.

– When children from non-academic backgrounds attend classes with peers from academically experienced homes, there’s a chance their motivation and study skills will be positively affected. But if students are sorted early on, as in some countries where children are divided into academic and vocational tracks as early as grade six, we risk missing out on these positive effects, Erik says.

Other factors influencing school performance

Erik and his colleagues also take into account other factors that may affect outcomes, such as differences in teacher density or access to special education expertise. There is a widespread perception that urban schools find it easier to recruit and retain qualified and experienced teachers, while rural schools often face greater challenges.

– We have definitely considered such aspects. In our study, we try to control for these factors statistically, even though we cannot study them directly. It would have been interesting if we had better data, says Erik.

Previous research shows that strong peer groups can sometimes compensate for a lack of teacher resources — and vice versa. But the growing education gap between urban and rural areas cannot be explained solely by differences in teacher density or teacher competence.

We see that the group of students who drop out of university studies often come from families without an academic tradition.

Dilsa

Secretary General, Berättarministeriet

Support for schools with low academic performance

One person who has closely followed these processes and sees how they affect both individual children and society’s opportunities is Dilsa Demirbag-Sten, Secretary General of Berättarministeriet. The organization supports teachers and school leaders in schools with low academic results in fulfilling their compensatory mission, using a proven and creative method.

– Our mission is clear: we are here to support schools with low academic performance. Even we were surprised by how extensive the problems are in rural areas, which in many cases are marked by the same high level of socioeconomic vulnerability as the most disadvantaged urban neighborhoods, she says.

According to her, schools cannot be viewed as isolated institutions – they constantly interact with the surrounding society.

–What we see in schools actually begins in society. There is a clear link from housing segregation to school segregation. The political project of building a cohesive society falters when we end up with a dichotomy between rural and urban areas.

Consequences beyond the classroom

Dilsa points out that there are also consequences that extend far beyond the classroom:
– Passing grades are no guarantee of a job in the future. We see that the group of students who drop out of university studies often come from families without an academic tradition. And those students who do manage to complete a university education rarely have the networks needed to get a job.

The school becomes a mirror of society, and when institutions fail, the consequences are profound:
– There’s a catch-22: when society lacks institutions like libraries, cinemas, and other gathering places, young people move away – especially girls, which only reinforces depopulation and the social problems that follow.

Those who remain are more likely to fall into a sense of resignation.
Another aspect Dilsa wants to highlight concerns the view of nonprofit actors and civil society:

– There are those who, for ideological reasons, don’t want a strong civil society. But they fail to see that we innovate and lead the way when society gets stuck. Public transport services and libraries were once nonprofit initiatives. We see how the nonprofit sector uses creativity and commitment when public services fall short. We need to motivate and engage, look at the world based on what actually exists, and ask how we can be part of improving it.

Michelle Bornestad (English translation by Forte)